Trill?

amourdelaflute · Post by **amourdelaflute** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:20 pm

We're playing Stars and Stripes Forever in our spring concert. The piccolo solo in the end has a trill from C flat to D flat and it's not in my trill chart. Does anyone know how to finger this?

deina-kun · Post by **deina-kun** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:29 pm

Trill from B natural/C flat to D flat.

Use the fingerings for those notes and alternate. Just make sure to start and end with the B natural fingering.

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:57 pm

for all practical reasons, you are trilling from b natural to c#. In theory b natural and c flat are different notes, but for practical purposes, they are the same note. So, basically [unless you have the extra C# trill key] you finger B natural, and then finger c# in quick succession.

atoriphile · Post by **atoriphile** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:10 am

In the second octave, you can use the first trill key while fingering B natural (Cb). Not exactly in tune, but usually close enough for trills (or is that close enough for jazz?).

P.S. - I've never seen a piccolo with a C# trill key.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:27 am

atoriphile wrote:In the second octave, you can use the first trill key while fingering B natural (Cb). Not exactly in tune, but usually close enough for trills (or is that close enough for jazz?).

P.S. - I've never seen a piccolo with a C# trill key.

I would opt for trilling both the left thumb and forefinger, personally. But the Nagahara piccolos, as well as a couple of others have C# trills. You might like to take a look at the Naga website.

atoriphile · Post by **atoriphile** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:29 am

flutepicc06 wrote:I would opt for trilling both the left thumb and forefinger, personally.

True, depending on how fast a trill you want. Some people find it hard to stabilize the instrument when trilling that way. It is a very awkward trill.

Also, in Baroque music the sharper C# that is produced by trilling with the first trill key could actually be desired. (I know, Stars & Stripes is not Baroque

)

amourdelaflute · Post by **amourdelaflute** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:22 pm

I have tried the thumb and forefinger and it feels really awkward. I guess I will have to get used to it.

atoriphile · Post by **atoriphile** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:17 am

This weekend I finally got a chance to try this out to see which fingering I use for this (I do it subconsciously now) and I do use the thumb and index finger for the trill in this particular instance since the trill is so short that I only have the chance to do Cb-Db-Cb. It's not too awkward if you only need to do it once.

Good luck!

woodwindNYC · Post by **woodwindNYC** » Sat May 12, 2007 2:06 pm

Just to expand on what flutepicc06 said, in addition to Nagahara, Keefe and Alexander Eppler both offer their piccolos with a C# trill key (it is, I believe, a standard feature of Eppler piccs).

atoriphile · Post by **atoriphile** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:21 am

woodwindNYC wrote:Just to expand on what flutepicc06 said, in addition to Nagahara, Keefe and Alexander Eppler both offer their piccolos with a C# trill key (it is, I believe, a standard feature of Eppler piccs).

I didn't say they don't exist; I said that "I've never seen a piccolo with a C# trill key." In other words, they are quite rare and only people with a lot of money (or high credit card balances) would be able to afford them. The vast majority of piccolos do not have them.

If you happen to have a piccolo with a C# trill key, then that's what you'd use to do the trill.

For everyone else, use one of the trill fingerings mentioned earlier in this thread instead.

etgohomeok · Post by **etgohomeok** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:33 pm

I played it a couple of years back and (if I'm thinking of the same trill) I just trilled to a C natural using the left thumb key. I actually think it sounds better than trilling to a Db.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:47 pm

etgohomeok wrote:I played it a couple of years back and (if I'm thinking of the same trill) I just trilled to a C natural using the left thumb key. I actually think it sounds better than trilling to a Db.

Whether or not it sounds better to you, if it's not what's written, and there's nothing in the score to suggest what is written is a mistake, it's not what you should be playing. Just my $.02.